What is the most ancient proof of human life you know?

Hello dear!

I was fortunate to visit the cave of Petralona, Chalkidiki, North Greece. From the cave and around it, there are many findings proving the existence of intelligent life, human! First, skull and bones that are more than a million year old, which belong to standing human being.

Also, there are control fire places, dated more than 4 million years old, with food, bones etc. and the fire was protected by circles of stones.

Also, among the findings from North Greece to Crete, Greece, are tools dated more than 13 million years ago.

You can search at: www.aee.gr

"The earliest known catarrhine is Kamoyapithecus from uppermost Oligocene at Eragaleit in the northern Kenya rift valley, dated to 24 Ma (millions of years before present)."

MYA MILLION YEARS AGO

Ardipithecus (5.5-4.4 MYA), with species Ar. kadabba and Ar. ramidus;

Australopithecus (4-2 MYA), with species Au. anamensis, Au. afarensis, Au. africanus, Au. bahrelghazali, and Au. garhi;

Paranthropus (3-1.2 MYA), with species P. aethiopicus, P. boisei, and P. robustus;

Homo (2 MYA-present).

"The evolutionary history of the primates can be traced back for some 60 million years, as one of the oldest of all surviving placental mammal groups. Most paleontologists consider that primates share a common ancestor with the bats, another extremely ancient lineage, and that this ancestor probably lived during the late Cretaceous together with the last dinosaurs. The oldest known primates come from North America, but they were widespread in Eurasia and Africa as well, during the tropical conditions of the Paleocene and Eocene. With the beginning of modern climates, marked by the formation of the first Antarctic ice in the early Oligocene around 40 million years ago, primates went extinct everywhere but Africa and southern Asia."

species lived when (MYA) lived where adult length (m) adult weight (kg) brain volume (cm³) fossil record discovery / publication of name

H. habilis 2.5–1.5 Africa 1.0–1.5 30–55 600 many 1960/1964

H. rudolfensis 1.9 Kenya 1 skull 1972/1986

H. georgicus 1.8–1.6 Georgia 600 few 1999/2002

H. ergaster 1.9–1.25 E. and S. Africa 1.9 700–850 many 1975

H. erectus 2(1.25)–0.3 Africa, Eurasia (Java, China, Caucasus) 1.8 60 900–1100 many 1891/1892

H. cepranensis 0.8? Italy 1 skull cap 1994/2003

H. antecessor 0.8–0.35 Spain, England 1.75 90 1000 3 sites 1997

H. heidelbergensis 0.6–0.25 Europe, Africa, China 1.8 60 1100–1400 many 1908

H. neanderthalensis 0.23–0.03 Europe, W. Asia 1.6 55–70 (heavily built) 1200-1700 many (1829)/1864

H. rhodesiensis 0.3–0.12 Zambia 1300 very few 1921

H. sapiens 0.25–present worldwide 1.4–1.9 55–80 1000–1850 still living —/1758

H. sapiens idaltu 0.16 Ethiopia 1450 3 craniums 1997/2003

H. floresiensis 0.10–0.012 Indonesia 1.0 25 400 7 individuals 2003/2004

Olduvai Gorge

The discoveries of Louis Leakey.

Google them.

some footprints about 4 million YA

Lucy's bones, about 3.5 million YA